Safety shoe with instep guard



Feb. 28, 1961 F. H. SCHLECHT SAFETY SHOE WITH INSTEP GUARD Filed July 5,1960 v z,97z,sz4 Y `SAFETY suon wrm msrnr GUARD Frederick H. Schlecht,Worcester, Mass., assiguor to H. H.

Brown Shoe Company, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation ofMassachusetts Filed July 5, 1960, Ser. No. 40,850

3 Claims. (Cl. 36-72) This invention relates generally to footwear andmore particularly to an improved safety shoe having a protective guardfor the instep.

Workshoes having safety toe construction are widely used in industry forminimizing toe injuries. Recently there have been the development ofimproved and compact instep protective devices which are permanentlyattached to the safety shoe in position to overlie the instep portionthereof and cooperate with the reinforced safety toe to provide adequateprotection for the instep portion of the shoe wearers foot. An instepprotective device of this nature is disclosed in my Patent 2,915,837issued nited .States Patent O December 8, 1959. In the protective deviceof that type l a relatively rigid guard member of suitable plastic orother similar material is suitably secured asI within 'a leatherenvelope and that envelope and guard memberis positioned over the instepofthe shoe, with the envelope v 4 being welted together with the liningand upper `of the shoe by the conventional operation to secure theenvelope and guard in place over the instep with the lower end of therelatively rigid guard member disposed above the safety toe so that thelatter acts as a support therefor and functions to absorb` part of theforce which results when an object falls on the instep guard, forexample. In these constructions the inner envelope member extendsdownwardly over the toe but is not secured in thev welting operation assuch a construction creates an excessive and unsightly bulge and,moreover, such an assembly is diiicult to accomplish on the presentlyavailable welting equipment. However, as Y the inner envelope member isnot secured on its lower edges it has been found that in the course ofWearing the safety shoe and flexing the guard envelope the innerenvelope member tends to ride up so that itno longer lies smoothly overthe instep portion but rather forms a series of ridges or bulges, whichare unsightly and not infrequently cause discomfort to the wearer of theshoe.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide in'a safetyshoe an improved reinforced toe and instep guard construction.

Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide animproved means of securing suitable instep guard over the reinforced toeportion of the safety shoe. .In accordance with the invention it isprovided an instep protective member which comprises a relatively rigidguard member that is encased in an envelope which includes innerandouter portions. The outer member of this envelope is secured to theshoe by a welt with the guard in position over the instep portion of theshoe and its lower end positioned above the safety toe. Positionedbetween the safety toe and the inner envelope portion is a suitableflexible cloth member that has been impregnated with a plastic materialsuch as polystyrene and formed over the toe while it is flexible. Inthis state the fabric member wtih its plastic material has adhesivecharacteristics such that it will adhere both to the safety toe and tothe inner envelope member, thus securing the inner member in its properposition relative to the safety toe. As the impregnated fabric ismoldable while in its adhesive condition this combination of elements iseasily assembled over the safety toe so that it may be easily secured asan assembled unit in the welting operation. This invention thus providesa simple means for securing the several components of the toe and instepprotective unit together on the shoe in a compact unit without producingunsightly bulges and which enables the use of rconventional shoemachinery equipment.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be seen as thefollowing description of a preferred embodiment progresses, inconjunction with the drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the safety shoe construction inaccordance with the present invention with certain parts thereof brokenaway to show its construction more clearly;

Pig. 2 is a .sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the toe of the shoe shown in Fig. 1 withseveral of the elements of the protective unit spread apart so thattheir relationship may be more clearly illustrated.

, With reference to the drawing there is shown a workshoe having a vamp10 which is sewn to a quarter 12 by means of a seam 14. In addition tothe vamp and '.the quarter the shoe upper includes gores 16 of elasticand serves to hold the toe cap in place. This guard unit comprises arelatively rigid member 32 which has a compound curvature and is shapedto conform generally to the shape of the instep of the human foot.Secured to the underside of member 32 is a layer of cushioning material34. The instep guard member 32 may be aluminum or a plastic materialsuch as a copolymer of poly# styrene, butadiene rubber andacrylonitrile; or it may be a' tough resilient plastic material such asa high impact polystyrene resin which combines strength with asubstantial degree of shock absorption. This instep guard member is heldbetween inner and outer leather invelope or casing members 36, 38respectively. These casing members which, of course, may be of othersuitable materials are sewn together in the illustrated embodiment bystitching 40 along their sides and upper edges and are shaped so thatthey lie over the upper 10 and generally conform to the contour oftheinstep. The outer casing member 38 extends down over the toe and issecured by means of the welt stitching 24 to the upper and soles. Theinner casing member 36, while extending over the toe, does not extenddown to the welt but rather terminates short of that area. This assemblypositions the guard member above the toe cap 28 so that its lower end issupported thereby.

At the rearward or upper end of the instep guard envelope there areprovided two spaced snap fasteners 42 which cooperate with snaps on ailap 44 which is adapted to extend forward and over the upper edge ofthe instep guard. When the snap fasteners are undone the instep guardmay be ilexed upwardly and a person may insert his foot into the shoeeasily due to the expansible nature v grasas4 tion so far described issubstantially as shown in my aforementioned patent.

Positioned between the upper inner member 36 andv the toe ycap 28 is atextile fabric member 46 which may` be flannel or similar material whichis imygrregnatedV with a suitable plastic material that is deposited on`the fabric in a discontinuous manner. The plastic material may bepolystyrene or a celluloid pyroxylin plastic for example. When thismaterial is subjected to a proper solvent, for example a blend oftoluene and methyl ethyl ketone in the case of the polystyreneimpregnated fabric, the material becomes flexible and capable of beingeasily conformed to the shape of the toe cap. In this state the fabricmaterial has excellent adhesive characteristics onV both sides, thoseadhesive layers being indicated by the dotted layers 4S, and is capableof adhering to both the metallic or plastic toe cap 28 and to the innercasing member 36 of leather or other suitable material. It is formedover the toe in contact with the toe cap and extends down into the weltarea where it is'secured between the upper and the outer member of theinstep guard casing. In this manner the instep guard envelope and moreparticularly the inner member ofy that envelope is securely positionedrelatively tothe toe cap in a simple manner such that the toe cap andthe instep guard envelope are secured together as a unit withoutimpairing the requisite exibility of the instep guard member.

Thus it will be seen that the invention provides a simple and novelstructure for securely positioning an instep guard member relative tothe toe portion of a safety shoe without unduly enlarging theconstruction thereof andv without impairing the flexibility of theinstep guard soV that it may be easily exed upwardly and outwardly topermit the safety shoe to be easily placed on or removed from thewearers foot.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed it is believed that variousrmodications therein will beobvious to those skilled in the art and therefore it is not intendedthat the invention be limited thereto or to details thereof anddepartures may` be made therefrom within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A safety shoe comprising an upper including a portion adapted tocover the instep of the foot of the wearer, a reinforced toe cap adaptedto be positioned over the toe of the wearer, a sole, an instep guardoverlying theinstep and toe portions of said upper, said instep guardbeing formed with a relatively rigid member having its forward endpositioned above said reinforced toe cap, and being encased in anenvelope having an inner member and an outer member, said outer memberoverlying said relatively rigid member and extending downwardly over thetoe cap to be secured together with said upper to said sole by means ofa welt and said inner member underlying said guard member and beingjoined to said outer member along the sides and upper end thereof, saidinner member extending over said toe cap but` not being secured to saidwelt and a plastic impregnated member interposed between said innermember and said toe cap, said plastic impregnated member having adhesivecharacteristics which enables it to adhere both to said inner member andto said toe cap so that said inner member is positively secured relativeto said toe cap, said envelope extending upwardly and rearwardly oversaid upper, and means todetachably secure said envelope to said upper. v

2. A safety shoe ,comprisingV an upper, a sole, a toe cap memberpositioned over the toe portion of, said upper and an instep guardmember positioned over the instep portion of said.uppersaid instep guardmember being formed from relatively rigid material into an articlehaving a compound curvature which substantially conforms to the shape ofa human instep, the -forward end of said instep guard member beingpositioned above said reinforced toe cap member and supported thereby,an

envelope for housing said instep guard member com-v prising an innersheet memberv and an outer sheet mem? ber, said inner and outer membersbeing joined along the sides yand upper ends thereof and the lower endsof each extending downwardly over the toe cap, a plastic impregnatedmember: interposed between said inner` mem, ber and said toe cap, bothsurfacesof said plasticimpregnated member having adhesivecharacteristics which enables it to adhere to both said inner member andsaid toe cap so that said inner member is positively secured` relativeto .saidtoe cap, said outer, membertand said plastic impregnated memberextending downwardly over said toe capv and being secured to said upperand tosaid sole by means of a welt.

3..In a safety shoe, the combination comprising an upper, said upperincludingtoe and instep covering, portions, a rigid toe cap overlyingsaidtoerportion, a solev to which the upper is secured, a rigid instepguard overlying saidI instep portion. and apart of said toe portion andhaving its forward end supported by saidV toe cap, an envelope for'saidguard, a portion of saidenvelope extending forwardly and downwardly oversaid toecap, andv a plastic impregnated member having adhesivecharacteristics on both sides interposed betweenu and adhered to bothsides portion of said envelope and said cap to prevent relative movementtherebetween.

References Cited in the le of this `patent` UNITED STATES PATENTS Mmmm.

UNITED STATES PATE-NT OFFICE CERTIFICATION OF CORRECTION Patent No.;2,972,824 y February 28, 1961 Frederick H., Schlecht it ie herebyCertified/that erre? eppeere in the abe-ve numbered petent requiringcorrection and that the said Letters Patent should read as correctedbelow.

Column 2, line 48, for "invelope" read n envelope column 4,- line 43,for "both sides portion" read -m both said portion Y Signed and sealedthis 18th day of July 1961.

(SEAL) Attest;

ERNEST W.SWIDER Attesting Officer DAVID L. LADD Commissioner of Patents

